


In Defense of Cat Girls

by MeltyRum



Category: Arslan Senki | Heroic Legend of Arslan, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Overwatch (Video Game), Persona 3, 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22284760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltyRum/pseuds/MeltyRum
Summary: Akiyama is approached by many of Sharena's associates.
Relationships: Akiyama Shun/Salima
Kudos: 2
Collections: Boku no Hero Academia x Persona





	In Defense of Cat Girls

It started as another late morning for Akiyama. With Salima helping to warm the bed, it made it even more difficult for the loan shark to pull himself out of it. By the time he arrived at the office in the late morning, the only trace of Hana-chan was a stern note commenting on his irresponsible work hours. No doubt she had left to get some _real_ work done, which meant he had the office to himself. Well, there was probably some paperwork he’d been putting off, so he could see to that.

After a cigarette, maybe.

As he was lighting up, Akiyama turned away from his desk, looking out the window into the street below—or whatever of it that he could see, anyway. Between the “Sky Finance” lettering on the window itself and the fact that he was on the fourth floor overlooking a fairly narrow street, his office unfortunately didn’t make for a particularly interesting view, except to see who was exiting the beef bowl shop at the end of the street.

He exhaled a plume of smoke as he looked back to his desk, shifting one or two sheets of paper in order to take stock of the work he had ahead of him. His heart complained at having to get started, but he forced himself to collapse into his seat, taking a pen in hand as he pulled the first document toward him.

Just as he was about to put down a signature, the sound of the door came to his rescue, prompting Akiyama to drop his pen, swiftly stub out his cigarette, and rise to his feet to offer a short bow to his first customer of the day. “Welcome to Sky Finance. You can take a seat there,” he said, gesturing to the couch as he headed halfway toward the tea station, realized the water warmer was (for some reason) unplugged, and pivoted as casually as he could toward the refrigerator, which only had a few old cans of beer… and Hana-chan’s diet cola.

“Er… I’m sorry to say we’re out of tea. Do you like soda?” he asked meekly.

“I’m fine, thank you,” came the customer’s reply, his voice sounding as though it was trying to suppress its amusement. Akiyama found himself intrigued by the voice’s timbre, which carried a sharp, metallic quality to it.

As he made his way back to the couches, letting himself sink into the sofa opposite, Akiyama gave his customer a thorough examination, taking note of of his sloppy dress: the track pants and sweatshirt—certainly the picture of someone in need of a loan—seemed to betray the gentleman’s otherwise handsome features, and it occurred to the investor that the visage was more than handsome—it was familiar.

Akiyama sat back in his seat, wondering if this wasn’t a customer at all. “Something tells me you aren’t here to ask about financing, but I don’t want to make assumptions. How can I help you?”

The stranger smiled. “No, you are right. I did not come here on business; one way or another, I’m already well taken care of, financially speaking. If anything, my presence here has more to do with your host business.”

Akiyama looked him over once more, deciding to pull another cigarette from his jacket since this wasn’t anything official—only to find that he’d left his lighter over on his desk. With a small sigh, he reluctantly took the cigarette from his lips and replaced it into its packaging, relaxing back into his seat a little bit. He let his eyes trace his visitor’s jawline, growing more confident in his suspicions. “Well, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you’re yakuza—if you’re here to talk about host clubs, I mean. Fortunately, I’m lucky enough to have heard about you already, Shimada-san.”

Genji blinked, sitting up in some surprise before letting himself relax a little bit, putting on a thin smile. “’Heard of me’, you say.” He paused for a thoughtful second. “Was it Shinra?”

“Not _just_ Shinra,” Akiyama admitted, thinking briefly of the rokudaime. “But I did have it on good authority that you were back—plus, you look quite a lot like your brother. Aside from your ‘gloves’ and… things like that.” He paused briefly, trying not to stare at Genji’s modifications. “In any case, I’m honored to have you visit, though I can only assume you’re not here on behalf of your family?”

Genji gave a subtle shake of his head. “No, it is something a little more personal. To get to the point, this regards one of your hostesses: Sharena Saito.”

“Sharena-chan?” Akiyama prompted, scratching his head a little. A sinking feeling materialized in his gut, back by his spine. “She’s not getting into any trouble, is she?” he asked diplomatically.

Genji shook his head again. “Unfortunately, I fear she might be. To cut to the chase, it has come to my attention that she is seeing someone…” The younger Shimada brother trailed off, apparently realizing how strange it sounded to open with that. He did his best to rally: “Admittedly, this information comes secondhand—I haven’t been able to meet with Sharena, myself. But Ryoji Mochizuki assured me that you would recognize his name; he’s the one who told me this. Apparently Sharena sees him only rarely these days, and it has us both concerned.”

Trying not to appear stupid, but also trying to make his confusion clear, Akiyama asked slowly: “Is this about the cop?”

Genji blinked. “You knew?”

“Heard it through the grapevine. Not too many secrets at a hostess club—at least, not of that nature. Well… not to mention we’ve met once. He seemed pretty normal to me, but is there something I should know about this cop?” he asked, one of his eyebrows rising high enough to betray his skepticism.

Clearly thrown slightly off balance, Genji scratched at his cheek with a metallic finger. “I am aware this might sound like so much gossip, but it seems likely that Sharena is being taken advantage of. Mochizuki-san certainly suspects abuse.I know you are not her manager, but she is clearly a fan of yours; I would only ask that you speak to her about it.”

“Well, talking to her is easy, so I don’t mind,” agreed Akiyama. “But what kind of abuse are we talking about? And for all the interest you’ve taken in her relationship, I don’t think you’ve told me who you are to her…?”

Genji nodded. “I suppose it is only fair that you know. Sharena and I were once close; these days, I’m pursuing a more exclusive relationship with someone else, so we’ve met less often. But—and I am sure you don’t need me to tell you this—she is a lovely woman that I would prefer to not see come to any harm. It sounds as though her new man is restricting who she can talk to—perhaps even where she can go.” There was a brief pause as Genji uncomfortably glanced to the end of the couch. “And maybe this will not come as a surprise, either, but I fear she is a little naive; even if the police man has ill intent, she would probably assume the best of him.”

A dry chuckle came from Akiyama’s throat, at that. He found it hard to argue. “Alright, well, I suppose it’s easy enough to believe you’re one of Sharena’s friends. And I have my doubts that you _and_ Mochizuki-san would band together to try and ruin an innocent police man. I can promise you I’ll talk to her.” He got to his feet, since there were no other customers about.

Genji looked up, eventually rising from the couch, as well. “Are you going to visit her now?”

“I’m not certain she’s working today, but I’ll visit the club,” he said, nodding. “You’re the first visitor I’ve had today, so I might as well,” he added, choosing not to disclose the wonders this would do for his procrastination.

“R-right.” The cyborg followed Akiyama toward the door, seeing that he was in the way. “I suppose I did not expect you to leap into action immediately. Thank you for hearing me out.”

“Well, thank you for being worried about one of my girls. One with a history for being mistreated, no less,” he muttered under his breath, leading Genji out the door and toward the stairs.

Genji stopped short, looking back at the office from the top step. “Aren’t you going to lock the door?”

“What?” Akiyama turned, taking a few seconds to realize what Genji was referring to. “Ah! Right, right. Yes, I’ll do that, thanks.” He chuckled uneasily as he jogged back up the steps, firmly locking the office behind him.

After parting ways with Genji at the street, Akiyama started his march toward Elise. For a while there, it had seemed like he was spending more and more time at the club. Things had leveled out a little bit with time, which saw Akiyama returning to more of his financing business when he wasn’t being interrupted by clan chairmen. And with a new flame having wandered into his life, that was something he could be grateful for; even if he was, admittedly, a bit lazy from time to time, having multiple businesses to run could make it hard to find time for recreational romance.

He was lucky, he knew. But he also suspected that Salima’s patience might not accommodate both of those jobs—at least, not for the long term. It was also hard for him not to feel like a cabaret club owner made a somewhat poor match for a teacher, in any case; it wouldn’t do for her reputation to suffer because of him, especially when she would be taking a position at a new school—one which had already been jerked into a frankly-unfair amount of controversy. Perhaps the last thing she needed were rumors about a seedy boyfriend (with yakuza ties, no less!) on top of all that.

Still: if Salima wasn’t concerned about it, there was no reason for him to be.

Akiyama gave an absent-minded nod to the manager when he arrived, heading directly for the break room when he couldn’t spot who he was looking for in the main area.As he stepped through the door whilst opening it as little as possible, a pang of disappointment dropped into his gut when he saw that she wasn’t here. No one on break, huh? He let out a sigh of defeat, dropping into an uncomfortable folding chair at the break table. Sure, Sharena wouldn’t be here today, but he was at least hoping for her resident caretaker…

“That was quite a sigh. Thinking about a woman, Akiyama-san?” came a sultry voice, whose owner threw open the curtains in the little dressing area.

Nearly startled out of his seat, Akiyama fumbled awkwardly as he tried to turn on his feet, his eyes meeting with Camilla’s coquettish smile. Speak of the devil, huh? Or _think_ , in this case. He had to force himself not to look at her horns.

“Camilla-chan!” he exclaimed, trying to look as though he had very certainly not been taken by surprise. “I was actually just looking for you.” He _had_ been thinking about a woman, of course, but this wasn’t the time to start asking Camilla for relationship advice, even if Camilla had likely entertained her fair share of school teachers.

“Oh? For me?” she asked, sounding rather pleased. As she approached, the pleasant and subtle sweetness of her perfume reminded Akiyama of what a professional she was. “Well, I have a few minutes before I need to get back onto the floor. What can I help you with, Akiyama-san?”

He couldn’t help chuckling a little bit, feeling for a moment like one of her customers. “It’s about Sharena-chan. This might seem like a strange line of questioning, but has she told you anything about the new man she’s seeing?”

She gave him a knowing nod. “You mean Adachi-san. Sharena-chan actually told me a little about him—he’s visited a few times, you know.”

“Right. He brought that food by; I think I gave him my card once, but we didn’t chat much.” Akiyama held the back of his neck, trying to wrack his brain and see if there was anything suspicious in that interaction, but it had been so benign that he barely remembered anything but the man’s face. “Has he ever come here as a customer?”

Camilla put the fleshy end of a finger to her bottom lip, something in the motion striking Akiyama as rather seductive, her eyes tilting toward the ceiling in thought. Was she treating this conversation as a warm up? “Not to my knowledge,” she said eventually. “I think they met by chance, after his split with Stella Hoshii. Is there a reason you want to know about him? I hate to disappoint you, Akiyama-san, but she didn’t say anything very specific.”

Akiyama listened with some dejected nodding. “That’s about what I was afraid you’d say. It’s starting to seem like I’m just chasing some rumors, if he stands out so little.”

Camilla’s smile exhibited a touch of pity. “Rumors, is it? Well, I do remember her saying that he was nice ‘sometimes’. That’s the closest she got to saying something negative about him. I’m sorry I can’t add to your investigation.”

Smiling now, Akiyama shook his head. “No. Not to worry. It looks like I’ll just have to talk to Sharena herself. I said it was just rumors, but it’s giving me a bad feeling, for some reason.”

“Well, it’s not as though Sharena-chan disappears entirely on her days off. Should I give you her address?”

“We’ve got to have it on file somewhere, but… I am sort of her boss; I’m not sure I should really be bothering her in her free time.”

“Oh, Akiyama-san,” sighed Camilla dramatically, the pity in her smile twisting such that it made Akiyama feel like a hapless child. “Trust me: if I know Sharena, she would be thrilled to be visited by you. If she isn’t, then I can tell you there _is_ something wrong with Adachi-san.” She retrieved a gaudy purple fur scarf _thing_ from the back of one of the chairs, throwing it ceremoniously onto her shoulders, where it very suddenly appeared natural and attractive, rather than noisy.

“You should at least give her a call,” she continued, checking herself once more in one of the powder mirrors. “And now you have me worried, so if you don’t do it yourself, maybe _I’ll_ visit,” she chuckled. “But for now, I’ll see to the rest of my shift.”

“Right. Thank you, Camilla-chan; sorry for troubling you with this. It’s probably nothing, but I’ll see if I can get in touch with her.”

With an approving nod and a little wave, Camilla stepped back out into the main floor, where she would no doubt go on to earn plenty of tips from her adoring fans. For as adept as she was at playing the nurturing mother to all these salary-men, there was something a little intimidating behind that facade. As he stepped back into the street, it struck Akiyama that perhaps this could be another motherly appeal, in its own way: lots of guys were probably quite afraid of their mothers.

After buying a new lighter from the nearby stall, Akiyama decided to ponder his options over a cigarette, moving by alleyway as he inched toward the station, so as to have some time to himself. There wouldn’t be any point in trying to visit Sharena without calling first—a day off didn’t mean a day in, after all. And despite Camilla’s assurances, there could be no guarantee that she’d feel like seeing her boss in her own time. For all he knew, Adachi-san also had the day off; maybe they had already grabbed a shinkansen to partake in some sightseeing, or something.

Hopefully there would be no trouble at all; the last thing he wanted was to end up in trouble with the police. Was this what Sharena had been talking about when he hired her? Maybe it was situations like this that ended up leading to her being fired from so many different hostess clubs, despite her popularity, looks, and skill at pleasing men. He had found it a little hard to believe that she was popular enough at previous jobs that it caused issues with her co-workers, but maybe this had something to do with it, too? There could certainly be downsides to being _too_ alluring.

Like attracting corrupt men, for example, if not the ire of jealous women. He tried not to think of Shiroze.

Why should he be worried, though? So far, there hadn’t really been any indication of trouble. Ryoji and Genji suspected abuse, but relationships were just difficult, sometimes. Even his honeymoon period with Salima wouldn’t last forever; sooner or later, they would end up disagreeing on _something_. Depending on what that might be, perhaps their relationship wouldn’t survive. There was simply too much they didn’t know about the other, yet.

Perhaps it was the same with Sharena and Adachi. He was a cop, after all; he probably didn’t really understand the hostess job inside and out. A straight-laced cop _would_ have misgivings about women who spend all their time being friendly with other men, so it stood to reason that some adjustments would be called for. Rather than Sharena-chan, maybe he should speak to Adachi; at some point, he would have to realize that hostesses aren’t exactly sex workers. At least, not most of them. And even if they were, that wouldn’t exclude them from the dating pool, _necessarily_.

After stubbing out his cigarette, he exited the alleyway and made for the station entrance down the way. Before calling and before visiting, there was one more thing he may as well do. Genji’s information all came from Ryoji, from the sounds of it, so it made the most sense to start there and have Mochizuki-san verify Genji’s story. If that all worked out, it help him figure out where to go from there.

He tried to remain optimistic. If it turned out his new star hostess was being pushed around by a dirty cop, who knew what might happen?


End file.
